Jim Kershner’s This day in history » On the Web: spokesman.com/topics/local-history

From our archives, 100 years ago

Fasting was a popular health fad in 1911, and two Spokane men were touting its benefits.

W.C. Kik, a real estate man, said he had just concluded a 32-day fast. He had launched his “fast cure” to rid himself of “indigestion and other petty ailments,” and it worked.

He said he hadn’t missed food at all and “never felt better.” After ending his fast with one small orange, followed by a couple of soft-boiled eggs the next day, he felt stronger than at any time since starting the fast.

Meanwhile, Dr. A.T. Dodson planned to follow up an earlier 15-day fast with an even bolder venture. He said he intended to walk from Seattle to Spokane, while taking with him only six lemons and a dozen oranges. He said he will have no other food.

Neither man seemed perturbed by reports from Seattle of a person who had just died during a fast.

Kik reported that he lost 33 pounds in 32 days but was able to work and “attend to his duties” at all times during the fast.

Also on this date

(Associated Press)

1888: The poem “Casey at the Bat,” by Ernest Lawrence Thayer, was first published in the San Francisco Daily Examiner. … 1965: Astronaut Edward White became the first American to “walk” in space, during the flight of Gemini 4.